Whether you live in a house, a condo, or an apartment, you can try new habits to reduce your home energy usage.

Are you ready to save money and energy? Many of these tips require little to no effort or out-of-pocket expense. Over time, you will see your energy efficiency increase and your savings multiply.

Light Up Your Home for Less

Install Light-Emitting Diode (LED) light bulbs. LEDs use 90% less electricity, generate less heat, and last 10-25 times longer than regular incandescent bulbs, and five times longer than Compact Florescent Lightbulbs (CFLs).

Use photocells on your outdoor lights.

Use task lights instead of lighting an entire room.

Turn off unneeded lights, even when leaving a room for a short time. Lights generate heat that increases room temperature. Lighting accounts for about 10% of your energy use.

Manage Energy Use with Laundry and Dishes

Choose cold or warm water to wash your clothes. This saves money and makes your clothes last longer.

Choose the air dry cycle on your dishwasher.

Dry loads of clothes back-to-back to take advantage of heat built up in the dryer.

Clean the lint filter after every load. Your dryer will dry more efficiently, requiring less running time.

Close the door to the dryer room to keep heat from entering the rest of the house.

Control Your Water Heater

Set the temperature no higher than 120 degrees to save around $45 a year.

Use the vacation setting when you are away.

Wrap your water heater with an insulation blanket. This can reduce energy use by 10% to 15%. An insulating blanket will pay for itself in less than a year.

Consider installing a timer on your water heater. This will keep it from heating the water continuously when the temperature goes below the thermostat setting. The water heater will only heat water when the timer allows.

Cook and Cool Smart in the Kitchen

Check your refrigerator and freezer temperatures. You can save up to 25% by setting your refrigerator temperature between 36 and 38 degrees and your freezer between 0 and 5 degrees.

Consider getting a chest-styled freezer. They use 10% to 25% less energy than upright freezers, which lose more cold air when open.

Consider an energy efficient refrigerator or freezer. Refrigerators more than 10 years old use up to 50% more energy than new energy-efficient models.

Gently vacuum the refrigerator's condenser coils about every three months. Excessive dust buildup makes the refrigerator work harder and run longer. The coils are located in the back or under the bottom of the refrigerator.

Make sure your refrigerator and freezer doors seal properly. To test, close the door over a dollar bill. If the dollar pulls out easily, you may need to replace the seal around the door or adjust the door latch.

Cook outdoors or use the microwave. Microwaves use up to 70% less energy, cook food up to 75% faster, and produce much less heat than an electric or gas oven.

Keep the oven door closed. Oven temperature drops by 25 to 30 degrees every time you open the oven door, which slows cooking.

If you are using your oven for an hour or more, shut the kitchen off from the rest of your home and turn on the stove exhaust to help take heat out.

Never place aluminum foil on an oven bottom (for instance, to catch drippings). The foil may block heat or air circulation and reduce the oven temperature as much as 50 degrees. It may also interfere with even browning.

Cook with lids on pots to reduce energy use and heat. This will bring liquids to a boil more quickly and will allow continued cooking at lower temperature settings.

Use glass and ceramic pans. They retain heat better than metal pans and can lower the baking temperature by 25 degrees.

Try to cook in the morning. Kitchen heat can make your air conditioner work harder during the hotter parts of the day.

Cover exhaust fans when not in use. An open kitchen exhaust fan allows hot/cold outside air to come into your home. Low-cost covers are available to cover exhaust fan openings.

Manage Air Conditioning & Heating

Clean or change air filters monthly. Dirty filters make your system work longer than necessary.

If you have central air and heat, do not close vents in unused rooms. This could increase pressure and cause duct leaks.

Stay Cool During the Summer

Set your thermostat at 78 degrees or higher. Each degree lower increases your energy use by 6% to 8%.

Turn off your AC or raise the thermostat to 85 degrees when you are away for two hours or more.

Point fans in your direction. Fans blowing directly on you can make temperatures around you feel up to 5 degrees cooler.

Clean your AC condenser/evaporator coils at the beginning of the season. Clean coils lower your energy costs, extend the unit's life, and provide cleaner air for you to breathe. The fin coils on the outside AC unit can be washed with a hose. Coils on inside units may be difficult to get to and may require a trained technician.

Keep debris and high grass away from the condenser. These obstacles block airflow, which makes the condenser work harder and run longer.

Close shades and curtains on windows hit by direct sunlight to prevent heat from getting indoors.

Provide shade for outside AC units. AC units shaded by trees or other means work more efficiently and use up to 10% less electricity.

Plant trees to shade south and west-facing windows. Trees can reduce indoor air temperatures as much as 20 degrees, saving up to 40% on cooling costs.

Avoid turning on the oven during the hottest time of the day. Using the microwave produces less heat.

Stay Warm During the Winter

Set your thermostat at 68 degrees. Each degree higher uses 3% more energy.

Lower your thermostat when you leave home. You’ll use much less energy to heat the house while you are away.

Let the sun shine in. Open curtains and shades on eastern and southern windows during the day to let in more heat, then close them in the evening.

Add insulation to water heaters and hot water pipes to save energy and money. This is inexpensive and easy.

Caulk and weatherstrip windows and doors. This simple and inexpensive improvement prevents drafts.

Save Even More with Whole Home Energy Improvements

If you are ready to make whole-home energy improvements, and your home is more than 10 years old, our award-winning Home Performance with ENERGY STAR® program offers rebates and loans to help offset the costs of your improvements.